Call Out My Name
by HoneyBee1995
Summary: It is in these moments, after long nights on the prowl, just before dawn breaks through the feculent windows, and in the space before Eddie wakes, that Venom remembers. Inspired by The Weeknd's song "Call Out My Name"


We found each other  
I helped you out of a broken place  
You gave me comfort  
But falling for you was my mistake

It is in these moments, after long nights on the prowl, just before dawn breaks through the feculent windows, and in the space before Eddie wakes, that Venom remembers.

It does not like to remember. Neither is it a trait that its species actively engages in. They are impulsive, headstrong and present. Only ever focusing on the now. But humans are ruled by their past, Venom finds. Basing each and every decision and action on a previous encounter. Eddie is no different, and does so regularly. Venom finds it must join its host in any and all of his endeavours, in mind or body, whether it likes it or not. Because they are one.

Venom remembers the cold. Remembers the chill of air through the ventilation as it bites its hosts skin. The sterile and clean environment of The Life Foundation lab does little to quell its hosts fear. Her fear. His host was a she then. A she who so aptly went by the name of Maria. Maria is used to the cold. She sleeps in the rain. Beneath canopies next to dumpsters and the stinking waste of city streets. But the cold in The Life Foundation is new. It is unwelcome and unsettling, lurking beneath her skin, and raising flesh. The fine hairs at the end of her goosepimpled skin prickling from what is beneath.

It senses him before it sees him. Before even Maria knows he's there.

The mild pungent of perspiration, The muted flutter of a heart, and the trepidation of step. And it is only when he calls her name, only then that it knows that he – Eddie – is the one. Through Maria, it sees Eddie. Against a backdrop of myriad snapshots pressed against the dark.

Eddie's eyes are lonely, but full of spite.

 _Snap._

He is confident in step, but unsure in soul.

 _Snap_.

He wants to be more, but doesn't have the means.

 _Snap_.

The images filter through their shared vision as they see Eddie. Shards of the past and present colliding. All this they could see in Eddie even then. See the potential and promise that even he was too foolish to realise. It wants Eddie.

 _no_

 _ **Yes**_

Maria is tough, It notes. But she has nowhere near the potential of Eddie.

They moan together. Maria unwilling, fighting, but Venom driving their actions. It is enough to prompt Eddie, and he shatters the glass with a fire extinguisher.

I put you on top, I put you on top  
I claimed you so proud and openly  
And when times were rough, when times were rough  
I made sure I held you close to me

There had been no way of knowing what would happen next. The symbiosis had been meant to take over Eddie. Meant to control every part of his being, claim him. But entering Eddie changed everything. It found more than a vessel. It found a home.

' _What made you change your mind?_ '

' _ **You did, Eddie**_ '

Eddie was its home. Eddie who was impulsive. Eddie who was stupid. Eddie who was a coward. Eddie who was recklessly selfless. Eddie the loser. Eddie. In another life, Eddie would have been the perfect symbiote, but a loser just the same. Either way, whether as man or symbiote, Eddie was always the perfect mate

Rays of light filter through the glass. Catching Eddie's bare skin. Eddie grunts, turning in his sleep. Venom does not mind the light. Preening in the areas where Eddie's skin is still exposed to the rising sun.

So call out my name (call out my name)  
Call out my name when I kiss you so gently  
I want you to stay (I want you to stay)  
I want you to stay, even though you don't want me  
Girl, why can't you wait? (Why can't you wait, baby?)  
Girl, why can't you wait 'til I fall out of love?  
Won't you call out my name? (Call out my name)  
Girl, call out my name, and I'll be on my way and  
I'll be on my –

When Eddie remembers, it is in sleep. He dreams of his lost love. Of anguish, and of despair. His actions, and everything that has led him to where he is now. And he regrets. He regrets hurting Anne above all.

Even now, they feel Eddie's anguish. Rolling off his skin like waves on a turbulent sea.

Whenever Anne was around, it came back. It rose and settled in Eddies gut, twisting in and out of every organ and channel of Eddies body. Venom did not like it. It dominated his senses, lying dormant, and then blossoming suddenly the longer Eddie stared at Anne through the rear-view mirror. It did not have a word for this emotion amongst its own kind, neither did it exist. But it wanted the sensation gone.

' _ **You never apologised**_ '

It was an act of self-interest. Born out of annoyance of its hosts tempestuous feelings. And some curiosity on its own part. Why this species was built to house such a complex network, was beyond its understanding. Emotions clouded judgement and wasted time. But curiosity was an itch, and it needed to be scratched.

Humans, it realised, needed bonds to survive. To thrive. And the bond Anne and Eddie shared was built by the emotions between each other. Whether in a look, a word or a sign, a thousand little things could be said by one mere act of emotion. The sensations working its way through its own network, contagious.

It wanted more.

When it kissed Eddie through Anne, it was an act of self-interest too. A physical manifestation of shared emotion, passing from the breath of one to another. Binding them, and manifesting the unsaid through Venom. It felt, _liberating_.

If it could keep Anne, if it could stop her from moving on, it could continue to share what they had, this bond.

But Anne insisted that she no longer wanted the bond. Claimed that she merely acted on its wishes, which wasn't a lie. It wants what they have. to feel just as Anne did. To be wanted, immersed in pleasure and treasured from just the knowledge of its presence by Eddie.

But whether Eddie feels the same way, is a mystery to Venom.

I said I didn't feel nothing baby, but I lied  
I almost cut a piece of myself for your life  
Guess I was just another pit stop  
'Til you made up your mind  
You just wasted my time

' _You were eating me from the inside out!?_ '

Even now, the words hurt. Eddie's anger, palpable. Yes, it was eating Eddie. But it never thought it would need Eddie any more than in that moment. Trapped in a case of glass. Even after they reunited in the forest, Eddie hadn't quite forgiven it yet, didn't quite trust it still, but if they were to stop Riot, they would need each other.

' _ **Goodbye, Eddie**_ '

' _Venom, No!_ '

Before the forest, before the hospital, before the fight with the SWAT team, before everything, Eddie had not trusted It. Something that was clearly obvious. But it was in that moment, as the sky lit up gold, an orange plume, smoke and gas filled the air, that Eddie's final words said more than any bond. They where falling, straddled between earth and sky and apart. Eddie looking up at It, It looking down at Eddie. The distance between their fingers the space that kept a comma, and a new word apart.

But it was in that moment, that It knew that Eddie no longer despised it. All that had transpired had been forgotten, and all that was left was them. When Eddie found It later, he reached out with an open palm, accepting it without qualm.

Eddie still guards his mind. Blocking It when he feels Venom's probing is too much.

Sleep is the only time Eddie is less guarded. It can probe its hosts mind without any barriers, but treads carefully. It is still unsure of how Eddie feels about It, the mess of memory and emotion blurring the lines. But It knows at least, that what they have, is a relationship.

The early morning San Francisco traffic wafted into the room. The weary bones of the apartment complex creaking, as it roused. Dust falling from the ceiling as a lorry passed, horn blaring.

It wonders often, how different things would have been had Eddie not let his pride get in the way. Had It not abandoned Maria and latched onto him like vice. All that had happened, whether good or bad led to their meeting. Their union.

So call out my name (call out my name, baby)  
So call out my name when I kiss you  
So gently, I want you to stay (I want you to stay)  
I want you to stay even though you don't want me  
Girl, why can't you wait? (Girl, why can't you wait 'til I-)  
Girl, why can't you wait 'til I fall out of loving?  
Babe, call out my name (say call out my name, baby)  
Girl, call out my name, and I'll be on my way, girl  
I'll be on my –

'My love' Eddie's voice echoed through the fog, rough and course.

'Love, where are you?' ' **here, Eddie** ' it bleeds through its hosts body, the black ink of its body pouring out of the pores of its hosts arm. Eddie is awake. His jaw dusted in hair, his eyes squinting at the light. A grin on his lips.

'What are you doing my love?'

' **nothing Eddie. Nothing at all.** '

On my way, all the way  
On my way, all the way, ooh  
On my way, on my way, on my way  
On my way, on my way, on my way  
(On my)


End file.
